Commentary: The Need for a High-Accuracy, Open-Access Global DEM

Hessel C. Winsemius,Philip J. Ward,Marie-Claire ten Veldhuis,Didrik H. Meijer,Mark Iliffe,Ivan Gayton

doi:10.3389/feart.2019.00033

Abstract

A Commentary on 'The Need for a High-Accuracy, Open-Access Global DEM' by Schumann, G. J.-P., and Bates, P. D. (2018). Front. Earth Sci. 6:225. doi: 10.3389/feart.2018.00225

Highlights

Schumann and Bates (2018), hereafter referred to as SB, argue that there is a need for a global scale, high-accuracy, open-access Digital Elevation Model (DEM)
A vertical accuracy of 0.5 meter is suggested to be adequate for local scale applications
At the level of detail suggested, an accurate DEM alone is not enough if the objective of flood modeling goes beyond awareness raising or flood zoning

Summary

Introduction

Schumann and Bates (2018), hereafter referred to as SB, argue that there is a need for a global scale, high-accuracy, open-access Digital Elevation Model (DEM). We argue that: (a) the “consortium effort” proposed by SB should focus on regions that will profit most: developing countries; (b) technically, at the local scale where the suggested accuracy (0.5 m) with the suggested spatial resolution (∼5 m) becomes useful, other properties of the environment besides terrain become dominant in flood behavior and, in flood risk.

Objectives

Results

Conclusion